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Safe floor loads - help

A

AJE78

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Hi All

I've gone about this the wrong way. I should have been more organised and checked this first. I've purchased a 10" Sedgwick planer thicknesser. It weighs around 264kg.

My workshop floor is suspended. Joists at 400mm centres and max span is 1.4m as they are supported ends and centre on a coarse of bricks, DPC, timber sole plate. The joists are 47x125mm C24. Flooring is 22mm glued moisture resistant chipboard. I also ensured all T&G joints landed on a joist, none are flying.

My plan was that the planer would be stored at edge of workshop and then pushed out for use.

Does this sound ok? I thought it was but now I am doubting myself and am in a pickle.

Thanks in advance of help

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264kg sounds a lot, but its only three small people or two billy bunters. If you held party in that room, how many people would you be happy to host? Counting each person as 90 to a 120kg?

I think the exact answer will come from MikeG, but I wouldnt be bothered by it. 8-)
 
If you want the definitive answer, you'll need a structural engineer involved. They start talking in Newtons, and it all gets a little complex.

Let's look at it another way. This thing will have castors or feet in the corners, so is supported in 4 places. There can never be more than 2 feet on any one joist, which means 130kg max on a 120 x 45 joist with a 1400 span. The worst case is that 130 kg evenly placed around the centre of the span. If the feet are 500 apart, say, then that's 65kg 450mm (1400-500 = 900, divided by 2) from the supports. Now, imagine two women or small men standing talking to each other a couple of feet apart. That's not going to cause your floor too many problems, I reckon!

It's even better than that, though, becuase that is considering just one individual joist, whereas in a floor, the flooring and any solid blocking help spread the loads, so that no one joist take all the load. The load is shared by adjacent timbers.
 
Thanks Bob and Thanks Mike for helping reassure me. Really very much appreciated.

Mike thanks for that great explanation. I know what you are saying about technically/strictly its a structural engineer question. Newtons and so on i far to complex to me! I felt like I was ok earlier in the week looking at span tables but then had that seed of self doubt and not knowing even a fraction of what you do about these things I began to get quite anxious about it all. That situation where you just can't quite stop thinking that you've got it all wrong and made a really awful mistake!

To be honest I am somewhat staggered at the weight of this thing. I emailed Sedgwick with a picture who confirmed weight so I don't doubt the numbers. It just seems megalithic in proportion to its foot print.

Many thanks again (can't say that enough!)

Andy
 
No problem Andy. Believe it or not, if your floor had been marginal the simplest fix would have been to simply over-board it with another layer of chipboard. Have that in reserve in case you upgrade to an even bigger old cast iron lump one day.
 
People always underestimate floor weights.
Having a party? 30 people? Work on 2 1/2 to 3 ton weight.
Got a wooden dresser filled with books? At least 200kgs, could be 500 kgs.
On any normal floor the only worry is a heavy woman wearing stilettos, The weight per square inch would make your sedgwick seem like a bag of feathers by comparison. :shock: :lol:
 
Your right Bob, floors are definitely overlooked. It's got me thinking about how much weight I have inevitably piled into my floorboards without a second thought. Must be quite considerable!

The party analogy is a good one, again got me thinking, how many people gathered together in close proximity and thats after a few shandys no doubt with a bit if dancing thrown in so very much not a static load!


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